the link to the strib article came from the library's data base....it didn't
connect when listed here...it looks like access is thru library card #.
here's steve brandt's article from 1998 ... impressive service.
best wishes,
cheryl luger
nokomis east
" David Fisher , who has quietly guided the park system since 1981 , helped
reshape the central riverfront .
Star Tribune: Newspaper of the Twin Cities - Tuesday, June 30, 1998
Author: Steve Brandt; Staff Writer
David Fisher disclosed Monday that he'll step down after 17 years as
superintendent of the 6,000-acre Minneapolis park system when his term expires
in January.
Fisher , a self-effacing technocrat uncomfortable in the limelight, has
presided over significant additions to the park system , most notably its
riverfront redevelopment.
He leaves on a high note. The city park system , historically considered one of
the nation's best, recently was cited for excellence in U.S. News & World
Report.
" David has been a great partner in trying to meet the recreation needs of the
community," said Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton, who has worked with Fisher on the
riverfront and other projects. "I was hoping that he'd stay around for a
while."
Fisher is opting out at age 55. He said he intends to spend more time with his
wife, Carol, and serve as a volunteer, perhaps in a national park .
Fisher doesn't relax when he pedals Minneapolis ' bike trails. Instead, it's
like a trip to the office. "I used to drive my kids crazy. I'd stop my bike and
pick up a can," he said.
Scott Neiman, president of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, said he
thinks it should hold a national search for Fisher 's successor. He said the
search discussions may begin at Wednesday's board meeting.
Mary Merrill Anderson, the most senior of Fisher 's four assistant
superintendents , said she's fairly certain she will apply for the job.
The job of heading a park system that citizens and park associations rate
highly in polls and competitions is likely to draw applicants nationally,
despite a state limit on public administration salaries. "I think they'll be
lined up from here to Iowa," Fisher said.
Texan in the Midwest
A native of the treeless west Texas foothills, Fisher was hired in 1970 as
operations planner for the park system by Robert Ruhe, a hard-charging
superintendent who was temperamentally Fisher 's opposite. Fisher then became
Ruhe's assistant for operations, a job that taught him the details of the park
infrastructure. He became superintendent at age 38.
He worked to squeeze operational efficiencies from the park system , and to
establish equitable park programs throughout the city. The neighborhood park
-building program begun in the 1970s was completed during his tenure four years
ago with Central Park in south Minneapolis . Park officials boast that no
resident lives farther than six blocks from a park .
He also renovated and expanded the city's regional parks , those with a
reputation beyond its borders. The Chain of Lakes is in the midst of major
renovations, as is Minnehaha Park . North Mississippi Regional Park was
developed in the Camden area.
But Fisher 's most lasting achievement may be the Park Board's role in
developing the central riverfront with other city agencies. The ribbons of
green along the Mississippi's banks have been credited with stimulating the
construction of hundreds of housing units. The latest river area ripe for
redevelopment lies along recently paved W. River Parkway between the Stone Arch
Bridge and the University of Minnesota. The park system now is turning its
attention to the more industrial upper river.
Fisher 's tenure also has been marked by collaboration: with other park systems
on connecting recreational paths; with Walker Art Center on the Minneapolis
Sculpture Garden; with private citizens on adding parkland at Cedar Lake, and
with nonprofits on adding youth and family programs at parks .
Under Fisher , the Park Board expanded its youth programs in order to help deal
with the city's social challenges. Because of busing, parks have been regarded
as the main mixing place for neighborhood youth.
Fisher assumed his job in 1981 just as local governments were being forced to
trim budgets because of state budget problems. In recent years, although the
Park Board has done well at getting money for physical facilities, there's been
a growing sense among commissioners that its operating finances are strained.
Fisher said Monday he's concerned about next year's finances unless federal
disaster aid replenishes money spent on repeated storm cleanup this year.
Performance review
During the last Park Board election, park insiders said the new board probably
would pick Fisher 's successor, although there was no hard evidence he planned
to leave. His three-year contract expires Jan. 4, and the board had established
a first-ever performance review for next week. Fisher said he wants the review
to proceed despite his departure.
He said he didn't make up his mind until the last two weeks, when he and his
wife talked it over. He said his desire to spend more time with her, and a
sense that projects important to him have been set in motion, were prime
factors.
Fisher said before the election that the board's makeup would be a factor in
his decision. He said Monday he's satisfied with how the board turned out.
Three days before his term ends, Fisher will become eligible for a pension of
about $60,000 per year.
The job paid Fisher $93,236 annually, and Neiman had circulated a proposal to
increase that to almost $98,000. That's more than the mayor of Minneapolis and
about on a par with the state natural resources commissioner, but less than
some comparable big-city park directors.
Fisher also may be the last superintendent to have lived in the tall Dutch
colonial superintendent 's mansion the Park Board built at 40th and Bryant Av.
S. for Theodore Wirth about 90 years ago. Fisher moved out in 1994 and lives at
a lake home in northeastern Anoka County, a fact that caught some commissioners
by surprise last year when it was disclosed, but they leased the house to the
Minnesota Recreation and Park Association. Neiman said a new superintendent
will be required to live in the city under the Park Board's residency
requirement for new employees. "
“I never wonder to see men wicked, but I often wonder
to see them not ashamed.”